That old house » Plumbing

Who Put The ‘P’ in P-Trap?

Luke — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:24:59 +0000

One of the least fun parts of plumbing is cleaning out that nasty little thing called a p-trap under your sink. It seams that is holds every nasty thing you could possibly put in your sink, then it ferments for several years…Nasty!

What exactly is this piece of pluming for? Why is it called a ‘P’ Trap? Why would you put a piece of plumbing in that plugs up so easy?

- A P-trap and an S-trap are made to stop gas (mainly methane) from coming back into your house. If you are wondering what methane can do watch “Christmas Vacation” with Chevy Chase. His brother in law dumps his camper’s sewer into the storm drain, releasing ignitable gas, then blows himself up – funny movie but good example of why you should use a p-trap. This gas is not only flammable but it also carries quite a bad odor…knowing where it came from should help you realize this:).

- The ‘P’ in p-trap actually comes from its shape. Look at the side profile and imagine a p and there it is (without the back, but still a p). The side profile of an ‘S’ trap is of course you guessed it – an S.

- This thing plugs up fast because it holds water, oil, soap, shaving cream, food and whatever else you can put in it (if it is rised out well most stuff will just go down the drain)…The nature of the thing holding water is actually the reason it can block air. Water holds a level under the lowest level of the wall drain, water is actually trapped by gravity making an air tight seal in the plumbing (this is difficult to visualize without a drawing, see below.)

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Solve The PVC Puzzle

Luke — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:28:23 +0000

I remember working under a house several years ago replacing the main iron drain line with PVC. This drain line was like a large misshapen spider with its legs running to all the toilets, sinks and showers. We measured every piece and carefully placed all the pieces only to find out that we started in the wrong place in the middle, causing all the rest of the pieces and angles to be off. This was very irritating, time consuming and cost me a little bit of money.
A couple years later in my career (I didn’t plumb unless I absolutely had to) I ran into another handyman that was more involved with plumbing than I was at the time. We worked on another large plumbing job in a beach front resort in Charleston. He cut all the pieces and dry fit the whole system before gluing it together. This sounds like the obvious solution – lets have a unanimous duh…I don’t know why I didn’t do this the last time I had a large job, I guess it had to do with being lucky for a long period of time. When the complete system was dry fit and in place he used another great idea for the job. He marked each joint on the plumbing with a sharpie marker so that when we started gluing the pipes together all the angles would be facing the correct direction (this is probably the most useful thing I learned from this job.
It has been several years since I have worked on any PVC plumbing requiring many joints and turns. I was looking under my sink and saw the sharpie marks I left when I re-plumed the PVC in the back of my house…I thought it might be a good thing to pass along…I used to do this stuff for a living and I didn’t think about it so I hope my sending out this post helps someone out. If this is already an obvious solution for your plumbing I hope you get this out of the post: You can learn many tricks and tips from someone else, don’t get into the spot where you know so much that you will not slow down to learn something new.

Thank you for reading,
Luke

What Is A Water Meter Key

Luke — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:11:54 +0000

One of the most important tools to have when you own a home is the water meter key. Water meter keys are important because you never know when a pipe in your house will decide it is time to have a blow out. The winter is the most likely season a pipe will bust in a most inconvenient time. Water expands in the line when it is frozen, causing the pipe to flex past its breaking point.

Get a water meter key this season, and learn how to use it. Here is a picture of a water meter key – I purchased this one from true value hardware for about $13.

To use your water meter key, you will have to find your water meter and the shut-off valve next to it. Here is a picture of a typical water meter housing, they are usually located in your front yard although I have seen them in the side yard and sometimes even the back yard.

If you have a bad water leak – open up the water meter housing and locate the valve, put the water key on the valve and turn it clockwise (usually righty tighty, lefty loosey).

Valve and key close up.

If the valve doesn’t want to move, try the other way. Sometimes the valves are oriented a little different. My valve is a quarter turn valve, so I just turn it 90 degrees and its off, some valves need to be turned two or three times to completely shut (gate valve or plug valve)… If you have a quarter turn valve without stops it will turn either clockwise or counter clockwise and shut off (remember if you have no stops then only turn the valve 90 degrees)…Ok, now that I have you thoroughly confused…How can you tell if the water in the house has stopped. Look at the meter and notice a little red triangle, if it is spinning the water is still flowing, if it is stopped the water flow has stopped. If you have a digital meter, the numbers will be counting gallons while water still flows, and of course will stop counting when the water has stopped.

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Add A Dishwasher Please!

Luke — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:42:53 +0000

I bought this live-in fixer-upper a couple of years ago with the partial consent of my wife. When I say live-in fixer-upper I mean it was right on the fence of livable for my wife’s taste. She was envisioning a new house with new house smell, new appliances, new carpet, just the basic things you get when moving into new house. I played the salesman and was somehow able to get her to pick a house listed as a cute little bungalow that needs a little work. The price tag was of course the selling point for me, it was at least $20,000 less than any house its size. I of course was seeing this house as a chance to make a little money and feed my do-it-yourself desires for a few years. During my sales presentation to my wife she mentioned the only way she would think about moving into this house was if I installed a dishwasher before we moved in….I think she was thinking “Ha I got him now, he will have to butcher the kitchen cabinets to make that happen…Impossible!” I of course said I would do it no problem. Here is a summarization of the events: The kitchen cabinets were of course a little problem. They were like an imposing wall saying “No dishwasher belongs here!” I knew otherwise.

Cabinets without Dishwasher

I used a Fein side cutting tool to make a hole for my dishwasher. When I did this I had to remove the left side cabinet, and shorten the right side cabinet. I resized the right hand door with a table saw, and did the same with the drawer. I had to take the drawer apart, cut about 2 inches off the width of all parts contributing to the width then reassemble the drawer. I reassembled the left hand cabinet, adding new bracing along the way (resizing the cabinet will be another whole post by itself at a later time). I installed a new 20 amp single pole breaker just for the dishwasher and ran new 12 gauge Romex wire. When you go to buy a new breaker, make sure you have all the information you need when you go to the hardware store such as brand name, amps, voltage, etc. I then installed a T on my hot water line under my kitchen sink.

Hot Water T

When you install the T, make sure you have the water valve closed so you do not get wet when breaking the line. The T is very easy to install, simply screw it onto the supply valve then attach the sink line and then the dishwasher supply line. I then attached the drain to the sink drain line with a special plumbing Y before the P trap. I now have a Garbage disposal, so the picture that I have is the drain line attaching to it.

Dishwasher Drain to Disposal

The special Y piece is very simple to install, just attach the top to your strainer assembly then cut it to length and attach it to your P trap or branch to the P trap. Make sure if you attach it to a Garbage disposal to remove the plug in the Garbage Disposal…Most Garbage disposals are made with the dishwasher attachment, but they are plugged with a plastic punch out. **It must be removed**. Attach the water supply to the dishwasher 90 degree water supply fitting. Then attach the drain line to the dishwasher line (this usually hangs off the back of the dishwasher). If a long drain line is supplied with your dishwasher you can run the line all the way to the Garbage disposal or Sewer Y. Open the hot water valve to make sure you do not have any leaks in the supply. When you have secured all supply leaks, go ahead and hook up the electrical line to the dishwasher ***Make sure the power to the breaker is off*** Turn on the breaker when the electricity in on. Run the dishwasher through a cycle to make sure nothing is leaking on the drain line or anywhere else. When you are confident nothing is leaking push the dishwasher into place and screw the top mounting screws into your counter top (I use short self tapping screws to ensure nothing splits). If you have marble, corian, or granite you will have to install some form of wood strip to attach the dishwasher. The dishwasher will then have to be leveled using the front two level legs on the dishwasher. When this step is finished, install the cover plate under the dishwasher door…Next, Enjoy your dishwasher.

Notes..This post was written in response to this post on Houseblogs.net for a True Value Contest.
www.StartRightStartHere.com

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Unclogging a Stuck Garbage Disposal

Luke — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:36:30 +0000

I think just about everyone has seen the old cheesy horror movies where the garbage disposal comes back on when the homeowner attempts to remove a stuck kitchen utensil. This hopefully makes us weary when working with these finger hungry machines. Old wiring and faulty switches would not need a ghost to turn on your garbage disposal and make you wish you hadn’t stuck your hand into the lions mouth. Here are a few tips to disarm and unclog your disposal. First, and most important, turn off the breaker to the garbage disposal. Check yourself by turning the switch to the on position to make sure the garbage disposal does not come on. If your disposal has a safety overload switch, it will not come on because it has tripped. It is best to check to see if you have power in this situation with a non-contact voltage tester. If you do not have one, push the red safety button on the bottom of the disposal to reset it, then try the switch to make sure the power is off.
Clean out the disposal very carefully with your hand, probing the interior barrel with your fingers looking for where it is stuck. If you get it unstuck, push the reset button, turn on the breaker and test it. If it’s still stuck, turn the breaker back off and use the hex tool for the bottom of the disposal and turn it back and forth until you have it unstuck. If its really stuck…try using a wooden dowel to knock the props free in conjunction with the hex wrench. Reset and turn back on. If its still stuck this could mean that your disposal is rusted in place or the shaft is bent which of course means you will be making a trip to your local home improvement store…Or to the Habitat ReStore (this is where I found my last disposal).

Luke

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Bathroom sink needs a plug

Luke — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:17:37 +0000

Do you have a bathroom sink without a plug? This can be a pain if you would like to fill your sink with water or if you tend to drop things in the sink. There is a specific part made for this problem in the bathroom. Its called a pop-up assembly. You can purchase one of these at your local hardware store or on the internet. They usually have easy to follow directions included….make sure to follow the directions for the type of sink you have. Stainless steel sinks take a plumbers putty seal, whereas a cultured marble will usually take the rubber seal included with the pop-up assembly. Also remember to test your work, plumbing can be frustrating, just remember patience will serve you well with these sort of tasks. Here is a picture of a pop-up assembly:

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